Christmas Caroling
by R. J. Niner
Summary: Yuuma decides to take a walk in the park on Christmas Eve at midnight. He's not sure why he wanted to go singing in the cold, but meeting a fellow singer there suddenly makes his idea all the more worth it. YuumaxGumi (sorta). One-shot. Merry Christmas!


"Brrr, it's so cold," Yuuma muttered to himself, digging his chin deeper into his jacket collar, his hands furrowing into his pockets. No one else was walking around in the park, but Yuuma guessed he ought to have anticipated that much. It was Christmas Eve after all, nearing midnight too. Just who in their right mind would take a walk in the park in the freezing cold at night?

Well, technically he was, so Yuuma decided he was either crazy, or just really, really stupid. He'd made it this far though. He wasn't just about to turn back, not after suffering so much pain just to get here. Still, why did it have to be so cold?

The streetlamps were brightly lit in the park, strings of colorful lights stretching between each of them. Yuuma stopped for a moment, his breath coming out in white puffy clouds as he stared at the twinkling lights. They were mesmerizing to look at, the rainbow of colors in the park. Somehow, just looking at them made him feel warmer inside. "Must be that Christmas spirit," Yuuma muttered to himself before heading down the path again.

Another huge burst of cold winter wind blew through him, sending shivers throughout his entire body. His teeth clattering together, he grumbled, "Seriously, why does it have to be this cold?"

In truth, Yuuma normally would've never come out in this horrible weather, but today wasn't normal. Yuuma liked Christmas, even though it always brought along Yuuma's greatest nemesis, the cold. He liked doing fun stuff on that day. His parents were no help. They were always busy working during the holidays, so Yuuma always took matters into his own hands. He was going to celebrate Christmas the way he liked, even if he died trying. Actually, screw that. He'd rather not die.

So what had Yuuma wanted to do by coming to the park? The guitar on his back made it pretty obvious. Yuuma didn't like talking much, but if there was one thing he took pride in, it was his singing voice. Caroling always seemed like a fun sport to take up on Christmas. He was always singing in the park throughout the week anyways, so a little Christmas cheer wouldn't hurt, would it? Though Yuuma really doubted anyone was actually in the park. The town square was probably a better place to have fun, but he'd already arrived in the park. Yuuma was too lazy to go anywhere else.

Just as he started tugged the strap of his guitar case, a small dot of white fluff drifted through his vision. Surprised, he stared up at the dark sky to see a flurry of snowflakes flying downwards, riding along with the wind. It wasn't a big storm, just a light shower of snow. Yuuma had to smile. Looked like it really was going to be a white Christmas after all.

Suddenly, he remembered his guitar. Just how was he going to play it in the snow? Frustrated, Yuuma let out a dejected sigh. He really didn't like singing without background music. He guessed this marked the end of his brilliant plan. "Maybe next year," Yuuma sighed.

He continued to walk through the park. It'd taken enough effort to just get here, so Yuuma decided it wouldn't do much more harm if he took a little stroll in the snow. Maybe the snow might stop in a while too, seeing how light it was.

Yuuma started to head towards his original destination. He had his own special place in the park, where he usually sat and sang to the passersby. It was nothing unique, but Yuuma liked the view. It was right in the middle of the long wide steps that led to a small circular area that had a fountain in the center of it. Yuuma wondered what the fountain looked like now. The water had probably frozen a long time ago.

The sound of singing suddenly drifted into his ears. Yuuma stopped for a second and started rubbing his ears really hard. Was it his imagination?

The singing was still there. It was coming from the direction he was headed in, near the fountain. Yuuma headed over there, curious. He wanted to know which brave soul was actually out there, singing.

He pushed through some brush and stood there in the shadows of the trees. His eyes fell on the source of the singing. A young green-haired girl was sitting there in his normal spot, strumming a guitar, but her voice was much stronger than the music she was playing. She was wearing a big, white jacket, the fur-lined hood on the verge of slipping off her head. Something like a pair of goggles were on her head as the girl continued to sing like she didn't have a care in the world, almost like she hadn't even noticed the snow. Her voice really was captivating but her guitar skills were amateur by most.

Yuuma stood there in silence, watching her. Strangely, there were more people in this side of the park than the side he'd just gone through, but most of them weren't even paying the girl any attention. There wasn't even anything that resembled applause once she finished a song and went on to the next. Yuuma couldn't understand why. Even if her playing skills weren't that…great, her singing was definitely something to appreciate, wasn't it?

She was just starting to finish singing "Jingle Bells" when Yuuma decided to make his move. The moment the last note fell, Yuuma stepped out of his hiding spot and approached the girl, clapping. She looked somewhat surprised, a faint red blush appearing in her cheeks.

"That was really good!" Yuuma said once he'd reached her.

"T-thanks," the girl stammered, out of cold or embarrassment, Yuuma couldn't tell.

"Have you been singing here for long?"

The girl just shrugged and replied, "N-no. Not really."

"Really? You look like you could use a good cup of hot chocolate," Yuuma laughed. "Besides, I don't think the snow is good for your guitar."

The girl glanced up at the sky, not surprised that it was snowing. She said, "It'll be fine. I don't get many chances to come out and sing like this everyday after all."

"You mean because it's Christmas?"

The girl seemed to blush again. She looked away and said, "Well, no it's just…"

She trailed off. Yuuma cocked his head to one side and stared at her. He asked, "What? Is something wrong?"

"No, of course not! It's just, normally I see you singing here, so I can't bring myself to sing when you're there," she mumbled, her voice so low Yuuma almost couldn't hear it. He didn't understand what was wrong with him singing.

He thought for a second before suggesting, "Then maybe we could sing together next time? Singing is funner with two people, don't you think?"

"Funner isn't a word," the girl instantly replied.

"It's one now," Yuuma taunted back, grinning.

The girl returned his smile, but she quickly hid it behind her fuzzy collar. She muttered, "But are you sure it's okay? I mean, you have a really nice voice. I'd probably end up messing everything up and-"

"Didn't I just say you had a really nice one too?" Yuuma asked back. He hadn't been lying. She really did have a pretty voice, one that was maybe even better than his.

"But…it's not really that nice," the girl mumbled back.

"Well, I think it is," Yuuma said with a lot of confidence. "Though you really could use some work on your guitar skills."

"Hey!" the girl defended, clutching her cherry red guitar tightly to her chest like Yuuma had just personally offended it. She exclaimed, "And here I thought you were a nice guy. I just haven't had a good teacher that's all. Don't laugh at me because of it!"

Yuuma couldn't help laughing despite what she'd said. Before she could say anything else, he asked, "What's your name?"

"G-Gumi. Why are you asking?" she asked, suddenly alert. Her eyes widened in surprise as she stammered, "Y-you're not going to kidnap me or something, are you?"

"What? No, of course not!" Yuuma exclaimed in his defense. "I just had an idea, that's all. My name's Yuuma by the way."

"Then what do you want?" Gumi asked. After another moment's hesitation, she added, "Yuuma."

"Well, I was thinking, want me to teach you how to play the guitar? I'm pretty good, you know," Yuuma offered, grinning.

Gumi's eyes widened with surprised. She exclaimed, "Really? That'd be so awesome and…" She trailed off again before saying, "But I don't have the money to pay for lessons."

"Who said anything about money?" Yuuma asked. "It's Christmas! I'm teaching you for free of course!"

"What? But…"

"No buts," Yuuma cut in. "Do you want me to teach you or not?"

Gumi fell silent for a moment. The snow had almost slowed to a stop by now, but Yuuma was only focused on Gumi. He didn't mind if there probably wasn't enough snow to cover the earth this year.

"Ok then," Gumi finally replied sheepishly. "Are you sure it's okay?"

"Definite," Yuuma grinned back.

"Are we going to be meeting here then?" Gumi asked.

"Sure," Yuuma replied. "I'm here everyday from four to six, so feel free to come by whenever you want."

Gumi smiled again and thanked him. She gently brushed the snow off her guitar and started to get up from her seat.

"Oh, by the way, you mind staying a moment?" Yuuma suddenly asked, turning to look up at Gumi.

She sat back down and asked, "Something wrong?"

Yuuma just shrugged and said, "I sorta disturbed your caroling, didn't I? Mind if I joined you?"

"But…you're the one that said snow was bad for your guitar," Gumi said, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Ah…well…" Yuuma tried to think of a good reason. In truth he just thought it'd be fun to sing with Gumi for a bit. For some reason he enjoyed her company, not to mention he wasn't feeling so cold either.

"Ah, that's right! It's Christmas, isn't it?" Yuuma exclaimed just as somewhere in the distance, the church bells tolled twelve. Without warning, he shouted, "Merry Christmas everyone!"

The few people that were in the park turned to stare at him, he guessed probably to see who the crazy shouting maniac was. Yuuma just grinned as he unzipped his bag and pulled out his guitar. Soon, the air was filled with cheerful Christmas tunes, with only Yumma's deep, crisp voice echoing through the park. He thought he heard Gumi laugh next to him. Still singing with a stupid grin on his face, he watched her sit down and join his song. Their eyes met and Yuuma grinned more than he ever thought he could.

This was going to be one great Christmas, Yuuma decided as he fixed his gaze back on the frozen fountain, his and Gumi's voices ringing out into the night as one harmonious melody. It almost made him wish it could be Christmas forever, just him and Gumi singing to an empty park as the snow came falling down, covering everything in an eternal white blanket.

* * *

**A/N: Christmas Christmas Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone! **

**So I found this awesome cover song by Gumi and Yuuma, so it made me want to write something about them, and then here came Christmas, so I was like Christmas one-shot! But then it turned out a lot different from what I'd originally planned….**

**(It was going to have a much sadder tone to it, but I guess my half asleep brain likes happy stuff. Plus I stayed up all night writing, so excuse the randomness and mistakes….)**

**So Happy Holidays with this very random one-shot! Thanks for reading! Please review, and have a great holiday!**


End file.
